Talk:Import/Catalogue/AlberiMonumentali-RAFVG

Missing Genus

Quercus, Platanus, Morus, Magnolia, Pinus, Populus, Wisteria, Celtis, Fagus, Acer, Taxus, Celtis, Tilia, Castanea

Taxon vs. Species

As lengthily discussed in the Italian mailing list (e.g.: here), I (Sergio Manzi), propose to take the occasion of this import to promote the usage of the taxon key in lieu of the species (and/or genus) keys.

"taxon" is the correct term to identify a biological entity by its scientific name, at whatever rank of the taxonomic hierarchy (see: Taxon on Wikipedia), in contrast with species and genus which are bound to specific taxonomic ranks.

In our very precise data set we have trees identified at the subspecies/variety rank (e.g.: "Cedrus atlantica (Endl) Carrière var. glauca") and it would be inappropriate to attribute entities defined with such precision to a species tag which belongs to a higher taxonomic rank.

Moreover, taxon is far from being an obsolete/rarely used key: just check how trees are tagged in London, Wien and Paris.